53. LADIES FINGER

                                            LADIES FINGER

Nutrition in 100 gm (Raw)
Energy: 30 kcal
Carbohydrates	7.6 gm
Dietary fibre	3.2 gm
Fat	0.1 gm
Proteins	2 gm
Vit B9 (Folate)	87.8 µ gm
Vitamin C (Absorbic acid)	21 mg
Calcium	75 mg
Magnesium	57 mg

Ladies finger is also called ‘okra’ or ‘gumbo’ or ‘bhindi’. It is plucked when unripe and used as a vegetable. It is mostly eaten stir-fried or cooked. It is rather slimy when cut. Hence the pieces are stir-fried before cooking to remove the moisture or cooked with slightly acidic ingredients like tomato. Leaves are used in salads or cooked like the leaves of beetroot.                             

Seeds of ladies finger may be roasted and powdered to form a non-caffeinated substitute for coffee. Okra oil, extracted from the seeds is yellow in colour. It is high in unsaturated fatty acids like oleic acid and lenoleic acid.